The aforementioned '890 patent introduces and discloses a telephone system "personals" service and classified advertising service whereby ads are placed and published as previously known. A person reading an ad, the caller, and interested in establishing a personal relationship with the person who placed the ad, or purchasing an item for sale from that person, the subscriber, calls a telephone number published in the "personals" column, or in the case of a classified advertisement, the classified section. The number called is that of a central computer based system, and the caller is prompted to enter the subscriber's reference number (SRN) furnished in the ad and unique to the subscriber. The computer then uses the subscriber reference number as an index to locate the subscriber's telephone number, and automatically connects the caller to the subscriber. Only the computer is aware of the identity of the subscriber and the subscriber's telephone number, and hence the parties can communicate with one another while being mutually anonymous for as long as they desire.
The full text and teachings of the aforementioned patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The aforementioned '239 patent discloses certain cost-saving refinements made to the basic system first disclosed in the '890 patent, using available features of the public telephone company (in particular, a feature of a service sometimes called the "Centrex" telephone service) to connect a caller to a subscriber. Briefly, the caller is placed on hold at the telephone company's central office switching equipment and, concurrently, the subscriber's telephone number is located in the interactive system's memory. The subscriber is then called and also put on hold at the central office switching equipment. Finally, by hook flashing or some other means, the interactive system makes a connection between the caller and the subscriber at the telephone company's central office switching equipment, and disconnects the system from the line that originally was occupied by the caller, thus making the line available for the next incoming call. Utilizing this technique, the total number of lines required by the interactive system to provide adequate service to all callers and subscribers is minimized, for the system needs only enough lines to simultaneously process a peak number of calls that are expected at the same time, without having to consider the unknown and uncontrollable length of time that a caller and a subscriber may want to talk to one another.
The co-pending patent application discloses even further refinements to the system disclosed in the '890 and '239 patents. Specifically, this related application discloses the use of Direct Inward Dialing (DID) services to expedite anonymous connection. This prior application also discloses other aspects, such as a method and a system for enabling limited and automated contact with persons having unpublished telephone numbers, such as and for example, to enable facilitated and automated contact with individuals who do not wish that their telephone numbers be published and would like to screen such phone calls, and with groups such as physicians "on-call".
Another variation on this method utilizes a feature sometimes called auto three-way conference. After the caller is put on hold at the telephone company central office, the interactive system looks up the subscriber's telephone number and then calls the subscriber. The caller, subscriber and interactive system are automatically connected. The interactive system then hangs up.
While the '890 and '239 provide many features never before available in a classified advertisement system, and while the parent patent application has improved the efficiency of such a system, there is still a need to simplify the system to minimize unnecessary system interaction and to speed the procedure of anonymous connection.